chromebooks

A ton of Chromebooks these days support Android apps. But, if you've plugged one of those devices into an external monitor, you might have noticed apps were confined to your primary display. The folks at Chrome Unboxed spotted some changes to Chrome OS that allow for apps to be moved between screens, as well as the ability to launch apps directly on the secondary display.

Chromebooks aren't just for a quick bit of browsing these days. Some people use them for general productivity, including those of us here at Android Police. So Chrome OS' latest addition to the Canary builds is something we can get excited about. As of a few days back, the Chrome OS Canary builds were updated to add a shortcut to a folder filled with recent-accessed files, making your work a few taps easier. Everyone loves an improved workflow.

Chromebooks have become increasingly popular in education, thanks to their ease of use for both students and IT staff. Google is looking to expand Chromebook usage in another market - businesses. Today, the company announced Chrome Enterprise, a subscription service for managing large amounts of Chrome OS devices.

Chrome OS started off as a very basic computer operating system, but over time it gained touchscreen capabilities and even the option to run Android apps. This naturally calls for more input and navigation capabilities, and some additions to the Chromium open source code indicates Google is hard at work on that. In the not too distant future, we should see features like trackpad zooming on Chromebooks, but maybe not all Chromebooks.

Google can't seem to decide on a chat protocol and stick with it for any length of time, but SMS has been around for years and will continue to exist long into the future. The problem: it's tied to your phone. Some third-party apps can sync notifications to your computer, but Google looks to be preparing a built-in SMS connection for Chrome OS.

Google Assistant is designed to work across a wide variety of devices, from smartwatches to phones to smart speakers. Assistant is also arriving on Chrome OS at some point in the future, as evidenced by several Google app teardowns. In preparation for the new feature, Google is deprecating the "OK Google" hotword on Chrome OS.

Google and its partners launched a new wave of Chromebooks this year, and one of the most impressive pieces of hardware among the bunch was the Samsung Chromebook Pro. This device is expensive by Chromebook standards at $549, but a little less so today. You can pick a Chromebook Pro up for $519 ($30 off).

If you're on the list for beta updates to the Google app, a new version should have rolled out to you in the last day or so. We haven't seen any new features or notable changes yet, but there are quite a few interesting bits worthy of a teardown. There's a sign that rumors about an "Assistant" key on some new Chromebooks may be true and we may finally get to ask the Assistant to name songs again, among other things. As usual, we've got the apk linked at the bottom if you'd like to pick it up without waiting for an update to hit your device.

The Samsung Chromebook Plus was announced in January as part of the new generation of touch-friendly Chromebooks that launch with support for Android apps. It's a spendy Chromebook at $450, but it's already on sale after just a couple weeks. It's not a huge sale, but every little bit helps.